A Different Path
by daimix
Summary: All seemed lost for 10K when he found himself about to be hanged with Sketchy and Skeezy in some town in the middle of no where Mississippi, but a second opportunity arises when the Zeroes give him the choice of life or death; the catch being that he has to join them in order to live. So what happens when 10K says yes to their offer? (an au for the events of Down the Mississippi)
1. Choices

A Different Path  
Chapter 1  
 **Old Friends**

So _this_ was where he was going to die, the middle of some little hick town ran by a zombie obsessed mayor, smack down in _nowhere_ Mississippi. Away from his group - the people he had come to think of his family during the past few months and away from _anyone_ he actually cared about. It wasn't supposed to be like this, 10K was so sure he drifted down river the way Doc had, but he had made a mistake somewhere along the way and not wanting to be alone again, he had opted out for joining two con artists rather than doing the logical thing and venturing out on his own. But Sketchy and Skeezy had to be alright to some degree, right? Doc had trusted them, so couldn't he? But, several mistakes, some pissed off hillbillies and a total of sixteen and a half lies later, the trio found themselves here - ready to be hanged surrounded by a bunch of strangers.

The youngest of the three had actually imagined his death multiple times, in some fantasies he was the one turned that dreadful night instead of his dad, others it was him being murdered instead of Cassandra, sometimes he was the one shot instead of Charles, but more often than not, he was taken out by his ten thousandth Z and finally able to be at peace with his father. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he wished it, there was no way to right the past with the first three and he had a long way to go before the fourth could happen. He had to reach ten thousand.

He had to for his father.

But, that goal seemed further away than it ever had when the man behind him loosely pulled a noose around his neck. The teen had never feared death, he expected it even, but now that it was coming straight at him, it seemed more terrifying than ever. He would never get to speak with Doc again, never see Addy, shoot with Vasquez or make strategies with Warren, hell, even never arguing with Murphy one last time almost bugged him. That misfit ragtag group of strangers adopted along the way had grown to be so much more than friends, they were all family and would do anything for each other. God, he'd miss them.

Daring to risk a glance at his side, he saw the two men who dragged him into this in a similar predicament - all noosed up and ready to die, the only difference being, 10K would not show fear to his captors. He was nearly immune to the world for almost a flat second before a voice broke him from his thoughts. Deciding to test it once more, he shifted his arms around and was met with failure, he actually felt helpless for once. Tied up, guilty, his only hope being two near strangers, and closer to death than he'd been in a while.

"Do you have any last words?" Escorpion questioned in a tone that practically pleaded that he didn't want to hear anything. Sketchy was about to speak but was gave that choice a second guess when their future murderer stopped in his tracks, eyes locked on 10K who looked almost as uneasy as the others did nervous. "Actually, hold on," a pause and his fingers shot out with a vice-like grip under 10K's chin, "I ** _know_** this one."

The sniper could feel his stomach drop in that moment.

Frack.

Still silent, the teen just let his gaze drift elsewhere, refusing to make contact.

"You are part of the westbound group going to California."

Still silence.

"I do not know _why_."

A jerk of his head and the teen pulled back only making the other quirk his lips into the faintest of smiles.

"I'll offer you a deal, a child with such a talent should not go to waste over some petty events, so I will spare you and..." a small sneer and Escorpion simply gestured to the con artists behind him, "...your _**friends**_ here."

Black locks bounced as his vision met upwards towards the other, that sounded too good to be true. There had to be some catch.

"Upon the agreement that you come and work for me."

A pause.

"Never."

"Then you choose to die?"

"Hey! Kid!" Sketchy shouted a little too loudly for comfort. " **Don't** be stupid - you ain't gonna let us _die_ , ya here me!"

Upon that, the leader of the Zeroes simply pulled out his gun, turning around with a hard shove as he pressed the barrel to the man's temple. "It would be in your best interest to stop speaking."

That had him silenced in less than a second.

Still focused on the criminal held by the tip of his gun, he asked once more, "what do you choose?"

Memories passed him, he had done all he could to survive this long, all he could to still see Doc and help him, all he could do to talk to Addy and mess around together, all he could do to assist Warren and Vasquez with their mission, and all he could do to help keep their mission alive. They had accepted him to their group without question, they never suspected him of anything bad. Doc had immediately saw it as his job to be there for him, Addy had wanted to be his friend right away, Warren protected him and Vasquez even would help him out with shooting practice when the occasion arose. They were his will to live now. They were his family. And he would survive a little bit longer if it meant having the chance to see them again.

" _I'm in_."

Unsurprised, Escorpion snapped his fingers and his men cut the ropes from their necks, gesturing at 10K to follow him to their van leaving the other two behind without even a glance back, but he didn't need to look to know the two convicts had taken off running when they first got the chance. The teen let a shiver go down his spine when a man in a skull masked opened the back seat of the car, he knew there was no way out of this one. He could only hope his crew would come and find him as skull face (newly dubbed) nudged him with the butt of his weapon, urging the boy to get inside and shaking any thoughts of escape out of him.

"I had a feeling you would choose to join us," the leader stated flatly. "Welcome to the family." And with that, Escorpion climbed into the front seat, the rumbling of the car engine over shadowing the overwhelming silence that followed.

* * *

 **And thus the start of my second fanfiction, this starts near the end of the episode "Down the Mississippi" but with a different course of events, sorry it's a bit short, I'll try to make the next chapter longer. I don't know how many chapters I'm going to drag this out and getting some feedback might give me some idea of how long I should go, so thank you for reading!**


	2. In the Fields

A Different Path  
Chapter 2  
 **In the Fields**

The first three days went by seemingly without time. The first day was spent quite literally being dragged onto the compound, stripped of any and all weapons he had (all twelve of them) and being dressed up like a doll by two skeletons of women who liked black clothing a bit too much for his liking. At the end of it all, the teen sported a whole black attire but forced his captors to stop before they had a chance to even touch him with the face paint. They could take everything from him, but they would not have his identity. Day two was spent following a group of overly decorated boons as they showed him the buildings and rooms, the men were mostly silent except for the occasional command so he didn't mind them as much as he did the women. Near the end of his first forty-eight hours they brought him to his quarters and gruffly shoved him in without a word before leaving. And then here he was.

It was day three and 10K found himself lying on a made bed staring aimlessly at the sky painted ceiling, he had given up trying to escape sometime on day two, not for good, just from his room. He had gotten an incredible lack of sleep from staying up through the night trying to find any way out, but the world was just not working with him. There was a surprising amount of precautions taken for him, there were no vents, no windows, the skylight was impossible to reach with what he had been given, and the door was constantly locked; not to mention he knew there was some big and broody guy stationed outside of it with his only orders being _not_ to let him out. He had tapped the walls a few times and he discovered they weren't cement like he had feared so they were probably able to be broken through, but he didn't have anything for that either; the teen was just given a desk that was unfortunately nailed to the ground and a simple bed.

Were the Zeroes being paranoid? Yes.

Were they right in being so cautious? Oh, definitely.

They could call 10K 'kid' or refer to him as a child all they want, but that didn't change the fact that he was deadly, a trained killer; instincts engraved in him from his dad throughout years of training and learning. He was a survivor.

A laugh escaped his lips, the smallest of grins forming as he did so.

Suddenly he wasn't seventeen in some captive room, he was six years old, it was the middle of a warm summer's day and he was laying down in the field beside his father before the world had plunged into chaos and changed forever.

They had just finished a hike around the sparkling lake and his dad saw it fit that they take a short break, it'd been a day of survivalist training in the woods and though he knew his son was stronger than most kids that age, he still was just a child. His dad tackled him into the tall grass and flowers and his son collapsed in a chuckling fit as he rolled into the blooming field, the sun shone brightly in the empty sky, the stinging from the sunlight almost sweet in his eyes and he couldn't help but feel at peace. His sense of blissful minute had to end though, in a split second the elder silenced him with a finger to his lips, hands immediately going to his rifle as he crouched up and gestured for his son to follow in suit. Tommy's head barely reached over the yellowing strands of grass to view the deer his dad had spotted. It was just a baby, he was fairly certain they were called fawns, its graceful movements showed no sense of danger as it bent down to nibble on a patch of grass.

"Tommy boy,"

The younger turned to meet his father who smiled ear to ear before immediately dropping his gun into Tommy's too small hands, hugging him behind to help the boy support the gun. The weapon was deemed too big and heavy for him when his fingers could barely get a grip and pull the trigger. Unlike his dad, he couldn't bring himself to smile - in truth, he was scared. Afraid to kill something so innocent.

"Can you help me shoot that deer over there?"

A second passed and with hesitation, he finally shook his head, "daddy I can't, that deer hasn't done anything bad…"

"So ya can't shoot it?"

A nod.

"Fine," the man said rather too roughly. A jerk and he pulled the gun from his hands and shot the animal dead in the head in a matter of seconds. Hoisting the weapon over his shoulder, he signaled for his son to remain in his spot. "Ya gotta good heart, son. But you do what'ya gotta to survive." A sigh and he went to go retrieve his trophy.

The moment of bliss was washed away as he watched his dad drag the carcass to their resting spot. Tommy plopped down again into a patch of flowers, eyes drifting upwards to the sky which was slowly gathering its collection of clouds, blocking out the sweet rays of sunshine that showered the earth in a gentle glow. The sound of his father swearing made him sit up again, lazily watching as he dropped the thing to the ground and walked over, wiping his lightly blood covered hands over his vest. The man squinted at the sky, the friendly sun being replaced by a few ever so threatening clouds.

"Looks like a storm's comin', sorry for ruining our weekend, son, but we should go home before the rain settles in."

And he smiled. Smiled as if he hadn't just taken the life of something that didn't deserve to die.

He remembered walking with his dad through the woods (the trail he claimed to be the lazy way) as trickles of rain fell from the sky, seemingly taunting them. The rain grew heavier with each passing minute and he had no words to describe how exhausted he was from training and then trudging through the freshly made mud. One second he was walking, and the next he felt his knees buckle under him, his dad catching him before he even hit the ground. Tommy vaguely recalled expecting to be let go and told to continue on just a bit more until they got back to their cabin, but the elder simply looped an arm under the crook his knees, the other cradling him close to his chest before he started walking off again. After that, everything faded to black, he had drifted off in his dad's gentle embrace knowing _he_ was right.

And eleven years later he was still doing what his dad had told him, doing what it takes to survive. This time, the situation was a little different though, he wasn't dealing with zombies or a random rival group. He was against and organized cult in the midst of an apocalypse. 10K knew he hadn't met the leader yet because Escopion sure wasn't the head of command. Sure, he was high up in the pyramid, but not quite there, a true leader didn't have to control by actions like he did, they dictated through respect and words. Both things he wouldn't be giving whoever was running the Zeroes.

His hoodie crinkled as the teen sat up, sleepily glancing around to double check if he had missed anything. Nothing.

A rasp knocking from the door fully drew him back to reality as he stood, hands at his side to reach for a weapon that was no longer there. The door creaked open as a girl simply gestured for him to follow.

"Come," and she bounced off without a word.

He only had a second's glance but it was all needed to know not to try anything; she was tall, actually bigger than him and strong, firey red hair enlaced with strands of bones - guns had been strapped to both her legs and he didn't even want to think about all the added security they had hiding in the corridors throughout the hundreds of halls.

Without a word, the teen reluctantly followed and kept at a pace at least ten steps behind her to avoid any confrontation. Each hallway was laced with guards, all standing perfectly still with guns in hand.

"Do you have a name?" She sounded almost genuine.

Almost, but he knew better. 10K simply remained silent, arms folding over each other.

"I hope you don't take so long to respond with La Reina, she **isn't** a women of patience."

Nothing sounded off the walls but gentle footsteps as the two turned into a rose filled courtyard and after an abrupt stop, the girl turned around, the sniper noted her face was decorated with black and white makeup to look like a skeleton (much like everyone else.)

"Silence will not do you well, I do not want to see you die because they can and _ **will** _ kill you if do not behave properly so listen to me. You aren't so special to the degree where they won't get rid of you, they won't be losing anything but a new _pet_ \- you're just someone with a good aim and a whole lotta' luck. So, for your benefit you'll meet La Reina here tomorrow at noon exactly. Do _not_ come late and you sure as hell better not try anything stupid. No one else here will help you so you just act like a good little boy and nothing has to go wrong. You understand me?"

A huff and she crossed her arms and they stood locked in some staring contest before 10K had had enough and turned his heel to go back to his prison. The guard stood in his usual spot as 10K brushed past him, the door slamming behind with with the definitive sound of it locking in its place.

And he couldn't help but think, he'd made a friend.

* * *

 **This chapter's a bit shorter than the first one, sorry! I wanted to update pretty quickly and I'm currently sick so it wasn't the best combination. Also yes, 10K deserved someone who didn't want to kill him so I'm giving someone who will hopefully be on his side, like jfc this boy needs some more people who don't want him dead in his life. That's all for now so thank you and expect a lot of sporadic updates!**


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